Kingsdown’s biggest
Hawkshill Common
Park or garden · 360 m outside town
3.1 ha (8 acres)1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
4 pitchesfootball pitches would fit
0.7 mi northfrom the centre
Directionsto the nearest entrance
Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0B+Outdoors Grade
Outdoors in Kingsdown · parks, paths & countryside
Kingsdown is on the coast, on the King Charles III England Coast Path
The sea makes up 51% of the area within 5 km. The Kent Downs National Landscape reaches the edge of Kingsdown. Parks and playing fields in Kingsdown add up to 1.1 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1. Kingsdown grades B+ for the outdoors. A character grade: it isn’t part of the overall grade.
Green space
1.1 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical UK town 2.1
Near a park
67%
of residents within 400 m
Typical UK town 83%
Footpaths
34 km
3.4 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical UK town 3.0 per km²
Protected landscape
12%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Kent Downs National Landscape
The sea
51%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors village is Kingsdown?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On the coast51% of the area within 5 km is sea; 2 beaches mapped.Countryside close byThe Kent Downs National Landscape starts 0.0 mi south-west.On a National TrailThe King Charles III England Coast Path passes through.Less park per person1.1 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical UK town has 2.1.
Kingsdown’s strongest suit is the sea, followed by the Kent Downs National Landscape close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Outdoors grade
Kingsdown grades B+ for the outdoors
Each chart is every UK town of 1,000 or more on one measure: the green bar is Kingsdown, the dashed line the typical town. The number is the share of towns it beats; the five are averaged and the average ranked again.
B+
Better than 67% of UK towns22nd of 60 UK villages its size
Public green space1.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
17out of
100
100
A park within a walk67%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
27out of
100
100
National Park or National Landscape12%of the land within 5 km
72out of
100
100
Footpaths3.4 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
68out of
100
100
The sea51%of the area within 5 km
99out of
100
100
Graded, never part of the overall grade (like History and Civic life). It measures what is mapped: OS Open Greenspace leaves out woodland and open-access land that isn’t a park, and OpenStreetMap’s rural paths are more complete in some places than others.
Villages its size
Kingsdown is 22nd of 60 UK villages its size for the outdoors
The 60 UK towns and cities of 1,600 to 1,800 people with an Outdoors Grade. Hover a dot for its figures; tap one for its page.
Outdoors score: the share of UK towns each one beats
Footpath, km per km²
Kingsdown3.4
Villages its size2.2
Kent towns2.6
All UK towns3.0
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Kingsdown1.1
Villages its size2.1
Kent towns2.3
All UK towns2.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Kingsdown67%
Villages its size81%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
Against villages its size, Kingsdown stands out most for path per km²: only 10 of the other 59 have more. It falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 47 of the others do better.
Show as a table
| Town | Outdoors | Green space | Near a park | Path per km² | Protected | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pease Pottage West Sussex | A+ | 4.1 | 100% | 7.4 | 65% |
| 2 | Manningtree Essex | A+ | 5.6 | 100% | 2.5 | 43% |
| 3 | Guston Kent | A+ | 5.8 | 100% | 2.5 | 25% |
| 4 | Llansanffraid Glan Conwy Clwyd | A+ | 10.8 | 100% | 1.6 | 8% |
| 5 | Penwithick Cornwall | A | 15 | 100% | 2.8 | 0% |
| 6 | Wroxall Isle of Wight | A | 1.2 | 84% | 4.6 | 33% |
| 7 | Eccles Kent | A | 3.7 | 100% | 2.4 | 30% |
| 8 | Hutton Somerset | A | 1.8 | 100% | 2.2 | 22% |
| 9 | Flimby Cumbria | A | 1.7 | 100% | 2.3 | 2% |
| 10 | Southwell Dorset | A | 0.7 | 100% | 5.4 | 0% |
| 11 | Wickwar Gloucestershire | A− | 2 | 100% | 3.5 | 15% |
| 12 | Lynemouth Northumberland | A− | 3.5 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 13 | Hemyock Devon | A− | 3.2 | 100% | 1.3 | 82% |
| 14 | Seascale Cumbria | A− | 2.1 | 81% | 2.2 | 27% |
| 15 | Clayhanger West Midlands | A− | 17.4 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 16 | Harrold Bedfordshire | A− | 19.1 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 17 | Bathampton Somerset | A− | 1 | 85% | 5.5 | 62% |
| 18 | Ripley Surrey | A− | 15 | 64% | 3.6 | 2% |
| 19 | Appledore Devon | B+ | 1.2 | 100% | 1.6 | 16% |
| 20 | Starcross Devon | B+ | 1.9 | 100% | 0.9 | 1% |
| 21 | Aldbourne Wiltshire | B+ | 3.2 | 84% | 1.8 | 100% |
| 22 | Kingsdown Kent | B+ | 1.1 | 67% | 3.4 | 12% |
| 23 | Blewbury Oxfordshire | B | 3.1 | 54% | 2.7 | 79% |
| 24 | Great Kingshill Buckinghamshire | B | 2.7 | 55% | 2.9 | 84% |
| 25 | Silkstone South Yorkshire | B | 1 | 100% | 5.2 | 0% |
| 26 | Normandy Surrey | B− | 3.2 | 23% | 3.1 | 26% |
| 27 | Streethouse West Yorkshire | B− | 2.2 | 100% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 28 | Eynsford Kent | B− | 2.1 | 81% | 1.9 | 46% |
| 29 | Shaldon Devon | B− | 1.7 | 85% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 30 | Woodsetts South Yorkshire | B− | 2 | 100% | 2.6 | 0% |
| 31 | Allhallows Kent | B− | 3.2 | 76% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 32 | Onley Northamptonshire | B− | 2.3 | 100% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 33 | Trethomas Gwent | B− | 6.9 | 48% | 3.4 | 0% |
| 34 | Pilling Lancashire | C+ | 4.2 | 46% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 35 | Seahouses and North Sunderland Northumberland | C+ | 1.6 | 17% | 1.7 | 21% |
| 36 | Chipperfield Hertfordshire | C+ | 2.4 | 37% | 2.8 | 17% |
| 37 | Rocester Staffordshire | C+ | 15.2 | 58% | 2.5 | 0% |
| 38 | Templecombe Somerset | C+ | 2 | 100% | 1.7 | 0% |
| 39 | Harvington Worcestershire | C+ | 2.6 | 100% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 40 | New Arley Warwickshire | C+ | 2.4 | 100% | 1.1 | 0% |
| 41 | Acton Suffolk | C | 1.6 | 100% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 42 | Stonesfield Oxfordshire | C | 1.9 | 60% | 1.8 | 38% |
| 43 | Wylam Northumberland | C− | 1.1 | 74% | 3.8 | 0% |
| 44 | Leeming North Yorkshire | C− | 5 | 76% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 45 | High Bentham North Yorkshire | C− | 0.1 | 0% | 2.9 | 45% |
| 46 | Lower Quinton Warwickshire | C− | 2 | 49% | 1.3 | 18% |
| 47 | Modbury Devon | C− | 1.7 | 39% | 1.2 | 41% |
| 48 | Creunant West Glamorgan | C− | 1.7 | 79% | 0.3 | 0% |
| 49 | Whitehill County Durham | C− | 0.3 | 0% | 7.7 | 0% |
| 50 | Upper Arncott Oxfordshire | D | 3.1 | 59% | 1.2 | 0% |
| 51 | Holt Wiltshire | D | 1.1 | 45% | 2.1 | 2% |
| 52 | Leverington Cambridgeshire | D | 2.8 | 59% | 0.8 | 0% |
| 53 | Dobwalls Cornwall | D | 1.4 | 28% | 1.5 | 15% |
| 54 | Tiddington Warwickshire | D | 0.2 | 79% | 2.2 | 0% |
| 55 | Point Clear Essex | D | 0.1 | 0% | 1.8 | 0% |
| 56 | Soughton Clwyd | D | 0.4 | 67% | 1.3 | 3% |
| 57 | Monk Fryston and Hillam North Yorkshire | D | 2.7 | 40% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 58 | Skirlaugh East Riding of Yorkshire | D | 1 | 85% | 0.7 | 0% |
| 59 | Ulceby Lincolnshire | D− | 1.2 | 72% | 0.5 | 0% |
| 60 | Welford-on-Avon Warwickshire | D− | 0.4 | 48% | 1.5 | 0% |
The map
Parks, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Kingsdown’s built-up area.
Green space: parks, gardens, playing fields and play spaces, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · Contains OS data © Crown copyright · Natural England / NRW
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Kingsdown
The biggest is Hawkshill Common, 3.1 ha (8 acres). Directions go to the park’s nearest public entrance where Ordnance Survey maps one.
Close to home
7 in 10 Kingsdown residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace).
Within 400 m (67%)Further (33%)
Kingsdown67%
Villages its size81%
Kent towns78%
All UK towns83%
About 600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees; 11 playgrounds are mapped in and around the village, about one for every 153 residents.
National Parks & National Landscapes
National Parks and National Landscapes around Kingsdown
Protected landscapes within 30 km, by direction and distance from the edge of the built-up area; circle size shows each one’s area. National Landscapes were called Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty until 2023.
National ParkNational LandscapeThe 5 km the grade counts
National Landscape
Kent Downs
At the edge south-west879 km²since 196812% of the land within 5 km
Official site12% of the land within 5 km of Kingsdown is National Park or National Landscape, more than 72% of UK towns.
Footpaths & waymarked walks
Kingsdown is on the King Charles III England Coast Path
34 km of footpaths, bridleways and rights of way are mapped in Kingsdown and the kilometre around it, 3.4 km for every square kilometre (the typical UK town has 3.0). Bars show each route’s kilometres within 2 km of the village.
NationalRegional
Saxon Shore Way6.8 km
King Charles III England Coast Path: Folkestone to Ramsgate6.7 km
The King Charles III England Coast Path, a national route, passes Kingsdown. The regional route here is the Saxon Shore Way.
Waymarked walks are OpenStreetMap walking routes. Public rights of way are only as complete as the map in each area.
When to get out
The best walking months in Kingsdown: May to September
The village’s 1991–2020 averages (Met Office HadUK-Grid) and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have 12½+ hours of daylight, highs of 15 °C or more and little rain for the town.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 8.4 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.5 | 16.5 | 16.1 | 14.6 | 12.5 | 10.6 | 8.8 | 7.9 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 76 | 63 | 45 | 46 | 55 | 53 | 53 | 61 | 66 | 99 | 100 | 92 |
March is the driest month (45 mm) and August the warmest (highs of 22 °C). Winter days are short, about 8 hours of daylight in December, and 100 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. Frost comes on about 19 nights a year. The climate in Kingsdown →
The coast
The coast and beaches near Kingsdown
51% of the area within 5 km of Kingsdown is sea. 2 beaches are mapped within 5 km, 1 with a name.
St Margaret's Bay1.8 mi from town
DirectionsThe King Charles III England Coast Path passes the town.
Sea: the area outside the ONS coastline (mean high water). Bathing water quality is published by the Environment Agency (England) and Natural Resources Wales; check it before swimming.
Things to do
2 viewpoints and 11 playgrounds
Mapped within 2 km of the village in OpenStreetMap, against the typical UK village its size per resident. Named places are listed with directions; unnamed ones are only counted.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 2
Plus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 11
Plus 11 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Kingsdown International Camping Centre0.0 mi from town
DirectionsPlus 1 campsite without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway without a name on the map.
Next door
The outdoors in nearby towns
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 12 miles. Tap a town for its outdoors page.
DealSt Margaret's at CliffeGustonWhitfieldEythorneDoverKingsdown
ABCDOutdoors Grade
Guston, 4.5 miles away, grades A+, the best next door: every resident lives within 400 m of a park. St Margaret's at Cliffe, Guston and Whitfield have at least twice Kingsdown’s green space per resident.
Questions about the outdoors in Kingsdown
What is the biggest park in Kingsdown?
Hawkshill Common, 3.1 ha (8 acres), with 1.3 km of path, just outside the built-up area. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the village or within 400 m of it.
Is Kingsdown near a National Park?
It covers 879 km² and was designated in 1968.
What are the best walks near Kingsdown?
2 waymarked walking routes pass within 2 km of the village, including the Saxon Shore Way and King Charles III England Coast Path: Folkestone to Ramsgate.
How many people in Kingsdown live near a park?
67% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a public park, garden or playing field (Census 2021 output areas against OS Open Greenspace). The typical UK town is 83%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Kingsdown?
May to September: the longest days, the warmest afternoons and the least rain of the year, from the Met Office 1991–2020 averages.
Is Kingsdown good for walking?
For paths, yes: 3.4 km of footpath and right of way per square kilometre, more than 68% of UK towns. For park space per person it beats 17% (1.1 ha per 1,000 residents).
How is the Outdoors Grade worked out?
From five measures, each placed among UK towns of 1,000 or more: public green space per resident, the share living near a park, National Park or National Landscape within 5 km, footpaths per square kilometre, and the sea within 5 km. It is a character grade and isn’t part of Kingsdown’s overall grade.
Sources
Where Kingsdown’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks and green space: Ordnance Survey OS Open Greenspace (parks and gardens, playing fields, play spaces, and their access points). Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- National Parks and National Landscapes: Natural England and Natural Resources Wales boundaries, areas and designation dates, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Footpaths, walking routes, beaches and things to do: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License (ODbL), via Geofabrik, 16 October 2026.
- Historic parks, listed buildings and monuments: Historic England, National Heritage List for England, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Rain and temperature: Met Office HadUK-Grid 1991–2020 averages for the town; daylight calculated from its latitude.
- The sea: ONS Countries (December 2024) boundaries clipped to mean high water. Residents near a park: ONS Census 2021 output areas.
- Grade: TownRatings’ Outdoors Grade, ranked against UK towns only.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.